Job 24

24TH CHAPTER

Job Continues: Why Doesn’t God Punish Those Who Do Evil?

¹“Why doesn’t the Almighty set aside times ⸤for punishment⸥? 

Why don’t those who are close to him see his days ⸤of judgment⸥? 

²“⸤People⸥ move boundary markers. 

They steal flocks and tend them as shepherds. 

³They drive away the orphan’s donkey. 

They take the widow’s ox as security for a loan. 

⁴They force needy people off the road. 

All the poor people of the country go into hiding. 

⁵Like wild donkeys in the desert, 

poor people go out to do their work, looking for food. 

The plains provide food for their children. 

⁶They harvest animal food in the field ⸤to feed themselves⸥. 

They pick the leftover grapes in the wicked person’s vineyard. 

⁷All night they lie naked 

without a covering from the cold. 

⁸They are drenched by the rainstorms in the mountains. 

They hug the rocks because they can’t find shelter. 

⁹“⸤People⸥ snatch the ⸤nursing⸥ orphan from a breast 

and take a poor woman’s baby as security for a loan. 

¹⁰⸤That is why⸥ the poor go around naked. 

They are hungry, yet they carry bundles of grain. 

¹¹They press out olive oil between rows ⸤of olive trees⸥. 

They stomp on grapes in wine vats, yet they are thirsty. 

¹²Those dying in the city groan. 

Wounded people cry for help, 

but God pays no attention to their prayers. 

¹³“Such people are among those who rebel against the light. 

They are not acquainted with its ways. 

They do not stay on its paths. 

¹⁴At dawn murderers rise; they kill the poor and needy. 

At night they become thieves. 

¹⁵Adulterers watch for twilight. 

They say, ‘No one is watching us,’ as they cover their faces. 

¹⁶In the dark, they break into houses, 

⸤but⸥ by day they lock themselves in. 

They do not ⸤even⸥ know the light, 

¹⁷because morning and deep darkness are the same to them, 

because they are familiar with the terrors of deep darkness. 

¹⁸Such people are like scum on the surface of the water. 

Their property is cursed in the land. 

People do not travel the road that goes to their vineyards. 

¹⁹⸤Just as⸥ drought and heat steal water from snow, 

so the grave steals people who sin. 

²⁰The womb forgets them. 

Worms feast on them. 

No one remembers them anymore, 

and wickedness is snapped like a twig. 

²¹These men take advantage of childless women. 

These men show no kindness to widows. 

²²⸤God⸥ will drag away ⸤these⸥ mighty men by his power. 

These people may prosper, 

but they will never feel secure about life. 

²³⸤God⸥ may let them feel confident and self-reliant, 

but his eyes are on their ways. 

²⁴⸤Such people⸥ may be prosperous for a little while, 

but then they’re gone. 

They are brought down low and disappear like everything else. 

They wither like heads of grain. 

²⁵“If it isn’t so, who can prove I’m a liar 

and show that my words are worthless?”